Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 62.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 232,591 shares of the company’s stock after selling 388,601 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $17,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Intrust Bank NA grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 11,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.8% in the third quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on XEL shares. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $81.08 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $79.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.62. The company has a market cap of $50.62 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.